Tips and experiences from my everyday life as a wedding photographer
6 tips from a wedding photographer for your perfect wedding day
In my 8 years of self-employment, I have already accompanied over 150 weddings as a service provider. This has given me a lot of experience and I always learn something new in my conversations with brides and grooms who are about to get married or have already married. The trends and themes of weddings often change, but basically a wedding is always based on a similar process. Often, bridal couples deal with the same questions before their wedding day. For this reason, I would like to give you an insight today, in order to perhaps simplify the planning for one or the other consideration.
So here are my six ultimate wedding tips from my wealth of experience as a wedding photographer.
1. organising a wedding planner/ wedding manager/ ceremony leader
If your budget allows for this investment, please hire enough support for your wedding day. Many things are imagined differently in advance than they are on the day of the wedding. I can confirm from my own experience that the time on this day flies by - especially for the bride and groom. The wedding days are full of impressions and in order to be able to fully enjoy all of this, every support is worth its weight in gold. There is hardly anything more exhausting than having to take care of to-do's such as setting up decorations or the like on the day of the wedding. While a wedding planner can help you with the planning in advance, a wedding manager is only responsible for the coordination on site. These on-site tasks include, for example, the coordination of other wedding service providers, such as the punctual delivery of the catering, the setting up and dismantling of decorations, etc. This takes a lot of pressure off the wedding planner. Such a service is a massive relief for the bridal couple. You can enjoy the day to the fullest without having to take care of the little things yourself. Under the menu item "Cooperations"you will find many reliable service providers in this area from whom you can request various packages in this regard.
2. take enough time for getting ready.
If you book a wedding reportage that includes getting ready pictures, please allow enough time for this. We recommend around 1.5 - 2.5 hours. In our experience, the best output comes from wedding reports where there is no time pressure. In addition to documenting the bridal styling, the getting-ready time is often suitable for the first pictures with groomsmen or closest family members. Detailed shots of rings, flowers, accessories and, in the best case, the first look of the bride and groom are also valuable memories of your wedding day.
3. serve the wedding cake preferably in the afternoon
This is advice that is very close to my heart as a wedding photographer for a number of reasons. Especially because I love detail shots. Many bridal couples still plan their wedding cake as a dessert at dinner. In almost all cases, there is a small problem: as the supply of delicious food at such celebrations as weddings is often very lavish, unfortunately very few guests still feel like cake in the evening after the 3-course menu including dessert. The end result is that often at least half of the cake is left standing. The situation is different if the cake is delivered after the wedding ceremony, e.g. at the champagne reception, and the guests have an initial appetite. However, cutting the cake in the afternoon is not only ideal for this reason. Experience has shown that the photos are much nicer in the light and the guests' desire to taste the cake is quite high. The whole thing has two advantages: The cake is usually eaten and you as the bride and groom can use the time when your guests are sitting comfortably with coffee and cake, for example, for your bridal shoot. In this case, the guests are sufficiently busy and will not notice the short absence of the bride and groom.
4. lighting conditions at the wedding ceremony
It's best to consult your wedding photographer in advance about the best lighting conditions. Sun on your face, contrary to many assumptions, is not always suitable for taking great pictures at any time of day. In fact, the opposite is often true. Especially for outdoor weddings, there are a few things to consider: When the sun is high at noon, it is much more suitable to have the sun at your back. This not only has the advantage that the bride and groom and the guests are not dazzled during the ceremony, but also creates beautiful backlit shots. By the way, the same applies to the bridal couple shoot and group pictures. Here, too, it is not conducive to stand directly in the blazing sun. This usually results in large shadows on the face and narrowed eyes.
Of course it's wonderful when the sun shines on your wedding day, but it's still important to know how to make the most of it. Towards evening, as soon as the sun is lower, it can also be used wonderfully from the front, as the light is then much softer.
5. ask your guests to leave their mobile phones in their pockets.
Unfortunately, it happens again and again that countless mobile phones can be seen above the heads of the guests, especially during the most beautiful moments. This applies, for example, to the entrance to the church or the wedding ceremony in general. Of course, we can understand that everyone wants to have a memory of this day as soon as possible. However, this is a great pity for several reasons. On the one hand, the guests should enjoy the day and not be busy with their mobile phones. Moreover, it is not possible to retouch the mobile phones out of our pictures. Sometimes, unfortunately, they even cover up irretrievable moments.
Often there is also the fear that you will not see any wedding pictures afterwards. In the days of analogue photography, this was certainly justified. But you have booked a wedding photographer and our online gallery can also be made accessible to your guests with password protection. We can take out your personal pictures from the bridal couple shooting or getting ready.
It is helpful to provide appropriate information in advance, e.g. in the invitation cards. A reminder from the priest or the wedding speaker also always proves successful here.
6. write a list for group pictures
Group pictures are often also a moment of a wedding where some organisation is needed. There are several reasons for this on this eventful day. Family and group photos are also a nice memory, but especially with larger parties it is worth considering in advance which constellations are important to you. If you put these considerations in writing, it will make it much easier to take the pictures.
If you now assign a best man to inform the relevant guests, for example, you are relatively well equipped. This person should ideally know all the guests and be communicative. Of course, we will take care of the positioning for the picture. This also applies to a large group picture of the entire company.
If you are interested in a wedding reportage by us, we would be happy to hear from you.
